24 IN BIRD LAND. 
II; 
BIRD CURIOS. 
VERY observer of birds and animals has 
doubtless amassed many facts of intense 
interest —at all events, of intense interest to him- 
self — which he has not been able to adjust to any 
systematic arrangement he may have made of his 
material. That is true of the incidents described in 
this chapter. It will, therefore, necessarily partake 
of the nature of bric-a-brac. If it were not so self- 
complimentary, I should dub it bird mosaic, and 
have done. The reader will perhaps be more dis- 
posed to trace a resemblance to an eccentric old 
woman’s “ crazy quilt ;” andif he prefers the home- 
lier and less poetical title, I shall not complain. 
But even a bit of patchwork must be begun 
somewhere, and so I shall plunge at once zz medias 
res. 
The day was one of the fairest of early spring. 
How shall I describe it? No sky could have been 
bluer, no fields greener. The earth smiled under 
the favoritism of the radiant heavens in happy 
recognition. My steps were bent along the green 
banks of a winding creek in northern Indiana. 
Suddenly a loud, varied bird song fell on my ear 
